Classes start next week, and I greet the new term with a mix of eagerness and dread. I'm eager to check off the classes I need to get this degree and begin my new career. Each term equals two more check marks towards the 16 I need. And I dread giving up my time: not being able to read what I choose, having to say no to so many things I want to do, always being pressed for time, being tired.
My summer was good. I didn't have quite the ocean of free time I would have liked, because I needed to earn more money, and took all the transcribing work I could get. But I did a lot of work for the Campaign, got a lot accomplished around the house, socialized more, and read as much as I could (about half as much as I wanted). Our party was great, Shakespeare at Stratford was great, our trip to California for the wedding was great. The low-point of the summer, of course, was losing Cody, but I actually expected that sooner than it actually came.
One thing we didn't do this summer was hike in regional or provincial parks. Cody couldn't do that anymore, and we wouldn't go off and leave her at home. So yesterday - a sliver of time between Cody and school - we took Tala to Hilton Falls, a hike I like because it's nearby and flat, and very wooded. The end-of-summer falls were quiet enough that Allan took Tala right up beside them, and she had a great time trying to eat the spray.
Also yesterday, we picked up Cody's ashes. You know why death sucks? Because it's so damn final. No matter how much you miss your loved one, he or she will never come back.
I didn't watch as much baseball this summer as I would have liked. The Red Sox had a decent season - not abysmal but not spectacular - with key members out with injuries for weeks and months at a time. In the American League East, decent gets you third place. The theme of our 2010 gamethreads seemed to be who has lost hope and when. I freely admit I was one of the first to believe the season was going nowhere, but I was content to watch and enjoy even without playoff hopes. That's how much I love the game. And it's still my favourite way to unwind.
As baseball winds down, movie season will have a different look this year. We're thinking of watching fewer movies, and renting whole TV series instead. On Red Sox off days this summer, we watched marathon sessions of "Dallas" (my favourite brain junk food), then moved into "The Chris Isaak Show," which I loved years ago (and which is not actually out on DVD yet, so of course we're not really watching it).
A friend recently turned me on to "Veronica Mars," which I had never heard of and went completely bonkers over. It's a brilliant combination of teenage coming-of-age and detective show, and one of the best teen shows I've ever seen. Everyone recommends "Slings and Arrows," which we've never seen at all, and somebody out there probably has "The Larry Sanders Show," which I loved, but only saw one or two seasons of.
Last winter, after coming home from class, I was often too tired to watch a movie. I don't know how that is possible, but I felt so fatigued that I simply couldn't concentrate on anything. So we would watch "Dallas" - lots of it. Allan added "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" to our collection, and for when I'm watching by myself... Xena! Part of my birthday present this year was the complete "Xena: Warrior Princess". Complete! Xena! Heaven!
I also don't need to gorge on independent films the way I used to. Most likely, if I make a list of the top five or seven films I want to see, that will do.
My classes this term are two requirements: Foundations of Library and Information Science, and Management of Information Organizations. Both sound pretty important for the field, so I'm hoping they turn out to be interesting.
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